Roberts is a 6-foot-7, 205-pound combo forward out of Bayonne, N.J. who plays at St. Peter’s Prep and for the Playaz Basketball Club. He chose the Johnnies over St. Joe’s.

“I signed to St. John’s today,” Roberts wrote by text. “I loved the coaches, the players, the atmosphere, the facilities and the campus. I had an offer from St. Joe’s but I wanted to fulfill my dream of playing in the Big East.”

Roberts led the Marauders in scoring (17.4 points per game), rebounding (11.0) and blocked shots (3.0) as a junior last season. He was selected as a first team all-county and all-league performer in 2008-09 for a Saint Peter’s squad that finished 23-3 as county champions and ranked seventh in the state.

“Ronald will be a great addition to our program. He is an outstanding young man who will give us versatility at the power forward and small forward positions,” said Johnnies coach Norm Roberts. “Ron has a great upside, and he comes from a terrific basketball family.”

St. John’s had previously tried and failed to land forwards Tobias Harris, Devon Collier and JayVaughn Pinkston. Harris will announce Thursday. Collier committed to Oregon State and Pinkston will wait until the spring.

JOSEPH CUTS LIST

Findlay Prep guard Cory Joseph has cut his list to five schools and won’t sign until the spring signing period.

“I cut it down to UConn, Texas, Villanova, Minnesota and UNLV,” Joseph wrote in a text.

He plans to visit UNLV the weekend of Dec. 11. The Rebels host Kansas State Dec. 12.

Joseph’s older brother, Devoe, is a sophomore guard at Minnesota.

Tristan Thompson, Joseph’s Findlay teammate and fellow Canadian, just signed with Texas, and Myck Kabongo, a junior guard at St. Benedict’s Prep also from Canada, has also verbally committed to play for head coach Rick Barnes.

The 6-foot-3, 180-pound Joseph had previously listed Florida and Mississippi State, but opted to take his fifth and final official to UNLV.

He is the No. 3 point guard in the Class of 2010.

FORDHAM HOSTING RECRUITS

Fordham snapped a 12-game losing streak to Sacred Heart Wednesdsay night with a 76-66 victory at Rose Hill Gym.

Chris Gaston, who played for both Bob and Dan Hurley at St. Anthony and St. Benedict’s, respectively, put up 22 points and 13 boards and former St. Anthony star Jio Fontan added 17 points and 7 assists. Brenton Butler scored 15 for the Rams (1-2) and Alberto Estwick, another former Bob Hurley product, added 12.

Fordham has hosted a bunch of stellar recruits in recent days. 6-5 senior guard Jayon James of Paterson Catholic, Sean Grennan, a 6-foot junior guard from Monsignor Donovan (N.J.), and 6-2 junior guard Xavier Munford of St. Benedict’s were at Wednesday’s game.

James; Paterson Catholic junior point guard Myles Mack; 6-7 PC sophomore guard Kyle Anderson; Jason Boswell, a 6-4 freshman wing from St. Patrick; Tiquan Goodlet, a 6-1 junior point guard from St. Anthony; Emmanuel Andujar, a 6-5 junior wing from Rice; Josh Gomez, a 6-9 junior post from Rice; and Theo Boyomo, a 6-9 senior from Kent (Conn.) School, were all at Fordham last Friday for the game against Maine.

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Michael Gilchrist,

The 6-foot-7 Somerdale, N.J., native, who plays for Elizabeth (N.J.) St. Patrick, also visited Villanova’s campus last year.

“What we are hoping to get out of this visit is more of the academic side,” Cindy Richardson, Gilchrist’s mother, told Keith Pompey of the Philly Inquirer earlier this week. “We already know what Michael is going to do for that program. . . . So we want to know what Villanova is going to do for Michael.

“We are going to find out how they are going to support Michael from a basketball standpoint and academic standpoint.”

Gilchrist has already taken unofficials in recent weeks to Rutgers and Michigan.

His mother told the Inquirer that he wants to take additional visits to Kentucky, UConn, Oregon, and Louisiana State before the season starts.

Gilchrist is slated to visit Kentucky for Big Blue Madness Oct. 16, but no other dates have been made public.

Many observers expect Gilchrist to ultimately sign with Kentucky or Villanova, but he says he’s open.

“I’m just having fun with my selection of colleges,” he told the Inquirer. “But it’s early. I’m just starting my process.”

ARMY HIRES CORNELL ASSISTANT

Army named Zach Spiker as its new coach on Saturday.

An assistant under Cornell head coach Steve Donahue the past five years, Spiker helped the Big Red to upper-division finishes in the Ivy League during each of his five seasons in Ithaca, N.Y. He was instrumental in helping Cornell’s recruiting efforts the last five years, culminating in the Big Red winning consecutive Ivy League titles the past two seasons. It marked the first back-to-back league titles for Cornell in school history and the first time a team other than Pennsylvania or Princeton copped consecutive Ivy League championships.

Jeff Goodman of FoxSports.com reported that Spiker was selected over Arizona State associate head coach Dedrique Taylor and St. John’s assistant Fred Quartlebaum.

“We couldn’t be more excited to name Zach Spiker as the head coach of our men’s basketball program,” U.S. Military Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Buster Hagenbeck said. “Zach impressed us with his high-energy level, intimate knowledge of our program and well-conceived plan to deliver a championship to the Army program.”

“We conducted a national search and spoke to a tremendous pool of candidates,” Army AD Kevin Anderson stated. “Throughout the process, one individual clearly rose to the top.”

“Zach is highly regarded by some of the most well-respected coaches in the country. He is widely recognized as one of the true young talents in the coaching profession and someone we feel is ready to lead our program to a Patriot League championship,” Anderson added.

NEW YORK’S BIGGEST SECRET

The biggest secret in New York City high school hoops is a young man named Amadou Sidibe.

The 6-7 Sidibe is a sophomore at Cardinal Hayes in The Bronx and already holds a scholarship offer from Fordham. Sidibe was on Fordham’s campus Saturday for an unofficial visit along with teammate Fidel Yacoubou, a Wings transfer and the younger brother of Long Island Lutheran guard Achraf Yacoubou.

“He’s an interesting kid. Nobody’s heard of him yet. He never played  AAU. He barely played any organized basketball,” said Hayes assistant coach Justin Simon.

“[Fordham assistant] Jared Grasso came into the gym Wednesday and offered him within like five minutes.”

Simon said Sidibe has a tremendous upside.

“He’s going to be our center this year,” Simon said.

“He’s a little raw. He has great touch. Long arms, blocks everything, great rebounder.”

Nobody knows area talent better than Grasso (pictured above left), who has established a pipeline from Jersey powers St. Anthony and Paterson Catholic to Fordham. But Yale coach James Jones is also high on Sidibe.

“Jared was the first guy to offer him,” Simon said. “But I brought him up to the Yale Elite camp and Coach Jones from Yale loved him.”

MURPHY GETTING LOOKS

Kamari Murphy, a 6-7, 195-pound junior from Bishop Ford; Dereck Millinghouse, a junior from Schenectady being recruited by Fordham assistant Steve Treffiletti; and John Baja, a sophomore from Fairfield Notre Dame, were also at Fordham today.

“I just played pickup games,” Murphy said by text.

He has a long list of suitors, including Virginia Tech, St. John’s, Hofstra, Wake Forest, Pitt, Virginia, Rutgers, Southern Illinois, Albany, Georgetown, Seton Hall, Providence, Marist and N.C. State.

“The two major schools that are showing me the most love are Providence and Virginia,” he said by text. “I’m highly interested in both.”

 RHOOMES TO PREP

6-8 Cardozo big man Ryan Rhoomes plans to spend the 2010-11 season at South Kent (Conn.), following in the footsteps of New York players Kevin Parrom, Omari Lawrence, Russell Smith, J.J. Moore and others.

 ”Yes, I am,” Rhoomes said by text.

Among schools showing interest in Rhoomes are West Virginia, St. John’s, Virginia Tech, Cincinnati and Providence.

FREE THROWS

Chase Plummer, a 6-5, 200-pound SF from St. Patrick, committed to UMBC…The New York Post has a very well done story today on the mass exodus at St. Raymond’s of the Bronx, which has lost eight D-1 caliber players in the last two years, and six this summer. The most recent to depart was 6-9 Arizona-bound junior wing Sidiki Johnson, now at St. Benedict’s of Newark. St. Ray’s coach Oliver Antigua has declined comment to various media outlets, including SNY.tv for this story I wrote last week about the mass exodus of talent from New York City.

DATES TO REMEMBER

Oct. 21 – Big East Media Day

Oct. 27 – Seton Hall Media Day

Oct. 28 – Rutgers Media Day

Nov. 3 - St. John’s Media Day

(Photos courtesy SI.com, Real Scout, US Army athletics)

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Trevor Releford,

“Yes. I liked the campus, the players and the coaches,” he said by phone.

Releford, the younger brother of Kansas guard Travis Releford, previously said he likes Alabama because of his relationship with new head coach Anthony Grant.

“Alabama is the top because they’ve been there the longest,” Releford said. “I talk to coach a lot and I was his first guy. He started recruiting me.”

ODOM ENJOYING ARIZONA VISIT

Rod Odom, the 6-8 wing from Concord (Mass.) Middlesex, is enjoying his visit to Arizona this weekend, his first official.

“We are still in the midst of the visit,” Rod Odom Sr. said by phone Saturday. “Everything is going fantastic. Rod loves Arizona, he loves the ‘Cats.”

After the Arizona visit, Odom will take an official to Harvard next weekend and then  Boston College Oct. 3.

Odom is also considering Vanderbilt, West Virginia and Georgia Tech but has yet to plan official visits to those schools. He has visited every school except Arizona unofficially.

COACHES VISITING IRVING

After we broke the news Friday that Indiana was out of the Kyrie Irving Sweepstakes, we have this update for Sunday.

Coaches from Kentucky, UConn and Duke are expected to visit Irving during a workout at St. Patrick on Sunday.

We’re hearing Orlando Antigua and Rod Strickland, Irving’s uncle and Godfather, will be there for the ‘Cats; Andre LaFleur from UConn; and I’m not sure who’s coming for Duke.

Funny story on this: I was driving home the other day and my phone rings from a restricted number. Guy on the other end tells me, “It’s Jay-Z, Sean Carter. Do you have a number for Kyrie Irving? I want to go watch him work out at St. Patrick.”

“Come on, bro. Who is this?” I asked.

He insisted it was Jay-Z and that he got my number from Irv Gotti.

I told him I’m not in the habit of giving out kid’s numbers and could I call him back? He said he was in London and he should call me later.

He never did and Jay-Z was on the Jay Leno show that night. In L.A.

FREE THROWS

Brandon Knight is on Kentucky’s campus this weekend, while Cory Joseph and Tristan Thompson are at Texas…UConn did not come to visit Tobias Harris today. Harris said the coaches may come back Wednesday for what would be his last home visit. After that he and his family will cut the list to five…J.J. Moore, the 6-5 wing out of South (Conn.) Kent, is in the process of scheduling visits to Louisville and Florida.

Fordham hosted Myles Mack and Jamel Flash. Fordham assistant Jared Grasso has done a terrific job tapping into Paterson Catholic and St. Anthony, landing Lance Brown (PC), Jio Fontan (SA) and Alberto Estwick (SA).

If the Rams land Mack as well, it would be a quite a get.

Mack also recently visited St. John’s and enjoyed it.

He’s still planning some other visits to Virginia Tech, Rice and Providence.

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Roscoe Smith

Thompson said the following schools are recruiting his son and would have in-home visits: UConn, Duke, UCLA, Maryland, Georgetown, Florida and Kentucky.

“I’m going to pick out the school that I’m going to commit to going on the middle of my Oak Hill season,” Roscoe, the No. 31 player in the Rivals150 and the No. 6 SF in the Class of 2010, told me earlier this month at the Boost Mobile event in New York.

He said he transferred to Oak Hill to improve and prepare for college.

“I just wanted to be around great players,” he said. ”I think me going to Oak Hill will step my game up more and get me ready for college life.

“I just want to try and win a national championship for [head coach] Steve Smith and other Oak Hill alumni.”

GASTON ELIGIBLE AT FORDHAM

Fordham got some huge news this week when it learned that 6-7 recruit Chris Gaston had officially qualified. Gaston, who played for both Bob Hurley at St. Anthony and Dan Hurley at St. Benedict’s as well as at New Hampton (N.H.) Prep, could be a major factor for the Rams as they try to rebuild. Gaston had a monster summer on the AAU circuit in 2008 and joins an incoming class that also includes Lance Brown of Paterson Catholic.

Both players opted for Fordham in part because of their relationship with sophomore point guard Jio Fontan, a Paterson native who starred at St. Anthony. After initially saying he wouldn’t return to campus, Fontan is back at Fordham. Fordham will have three St. Anthony players in the fold this year with Gaston, Fontan and Alberto Estwick.

The Rams will also have unofficial visits from a slew of talented local products: Myles Mack, Myles Davis, Jarrod Davis, Jarelle Reischel and Sean Grennan.

COUGARS TRIP TO ‘CUSE

Speaking of Paterson Catholic, head coach Damon Wright took six players to the Syracuse Elite Camp: Mack, Kyle Anderson, Jermaine Peart, Jhamir White, Reggie Cameron and Kavon Stewart.

“They like Myles and will follow him this year,” Wright said of his talented 5-8 junior point guard. “Coach [Mike Hopkins] saw that he has potential for the Cuse.

“Anderson was a stud in the camp. He played all five positions and did it well. Coach [Jim] Boeheim liked him. The rising frosh Kavon Stewart also caught the eye of the coaching staff.”

VARNADO INJURED

Mississippi State star Jarvis Varnado was hospitalized Monday for tests after falling ill during a morning workout, according to the Clarion-Ledger of Miss.

“He’s fine,” MSU coach Rick Stansbury was quoted as saying in a news release from the school. “We expect him back at full speed very shortly. We’re just being very cautious.”

ST. BEN’S HOSTING CLINIC

St. Ben’s coach Dan Hurley has once again put together a tremendous roster of coaches for his Sept. 25 coaches clinic in Newark.

Arizona coach Sean Miller, Villanova coach Jay Wright, Pitt coach Jamie Dixon, Temple coach Fran Dunphy and former NBA coaches Jeff Van Gundy and Hubie Brown will all be on hand.

ERIN ANDREWS TO TALK WITH OPRAH WINFREY

(AP) — ESPN reporter Erin Andrews said in an interview with Oprah Winfrey that having secretly videotaped nude footage of her distributed on the Internet was a “nightmare.”

Winfrey’s interview with Andrews will air Friday, Sept. 11, as part of a “Summer Headlines” show that previews the 24th season of “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” Andrews also tells Winfrey she “opened up the computer [and] could feel my heart pounding.”

Andrews’ attorney has said the blurry five-minute video was shot at a hotel without her knowledge and she plans to seek criminal charges and file lawsuits against whoever shot the video and anyone who publishes it.

The reporter also says she’s excited to get back to work this fall, adding “it’s really going to help me heal my wounds.”

Andrews will be working on air Thursday night for the first time since the video became widespread news. She’ll be the sideline reporter for ESPN’s broadcast of South Carolina at North Carolina State.

It was not clear when the video of Andrews in the hotel room first appeared on the Internet. The person who first posted the video didn’t identify the nude woman, and Andrews’ attorney later confirmed the video was of the 31-year-old reporter.

(The AP wrote the Erin Andrews story)

(Photos courtesy Rivals, Jay Gomes, NJHoops.com)

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The 6-foot-10, 250-pound Thomas, 32, signed a one-year deal for $1.3 million with the Mavs, his fourth team since last November.

The deal is low-risk for Dallas, which didn’t use any of its midlevel exception or bi-annual exception to land Thomas.

“Number one, the organization is chasing what I’m chasing, a ring,” Thomas told Keith Idec of The Bergen Record. “And it was important for me to go somewhere that I’m wanted, somewhere that I feel, overall, is just a great fit for me because I can help them in so many different ways. Once my agent told me Dallas was available and how interested they were, it was a no-brainer.”

After losing out on Brandon Bass and missing out on Orlando center Marcin Gortat, the Mavs went out and got Drew Gooden for one year and $4.5 million and Thomas and now have seven power forwards under contract: Dirk Nowitzki, Shawn Marion, Shawne Williams, Kris Humphries, Nathan Jawai, Gooden and Thomas.

You have to think a trade of some sort of trade is on the horizon.

Still, Mavs owner Mark Cuban said the acquisition of Thomas, who starred at Paterson (N.J.) Catholic High School and was chosen No. 7 by the Nets in the 1997 NBA Draft, would benefit the team.

“He is a really good three-point shooter that can spread the floor for us and will immediately make us a better three-point-shooting team,” Cuban told the Dallas Morning News. “Plus, he is a far better one-on-one post defender than he gets credit for. His length and experience really pay off.”

IRVING LIGHTS IT UP AGAIN

Kyrie Irving dropped 39 points Tuesday but his New Jersey Roadrunners team lost to Will Barton and the Baltimore Stars in pool play at the AAU Nationals in Orlando, Fla.

The Memphis-bound Barton scored 21 points.

Irving previously scored 37 points in an overtime victory against Team Final in the AAU Supershowcase.

Irving is a 6-2 point guard being recruited by Duke, Kentucky, Indiana, Georgia Tech, Seton Hall, UConn, Notre Dame, Texas A&M and others.

ROSARIO, FONTAN NOTES

Staying in New Jersey, Dick Vitale, an East Rutherford, N.J. native, has officially proclaimed Rutgers guard Mike Rosario a “diaper dandy.”

Writing in the August issue of Basketball Times — which also features articles by yours truly on Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson — Vitale says: “There is a sophomore at Rutgers to keep an eye on. I’m talking about Mike Rosario, who played for Puerto Rico in the FIBA U19 tournament. Rosario had 54 points in a game against France. As a diaper dandy, he showed that he can be a big-time scorer.”

**Jio Fontan, Rosario’s teammate on the Puerto Rico team, has been working out at Fordham for several days now in preparation for next season.

As first reported by ZAGSBLOG, Fontan opted to return to Fordham instead of sitting out next season.

“It’s the best thing,” said Jorge Fontan, Jio’s dad. “He’s motivated. He’s enjoying playing and he wants to continue to play and if he sat that couldn’t happen.

“He’s been working out and going there every day. I think he can move back to campus July 31. He’s been going there and working out and stuff like that.”

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Jio Fontan, a 19-year-old point guard out of St. Anthony in Jersey City, has decided to return to campus for his sophomore year and play with the Rams.

“When he came home from New Zealand he felt he had great momentum from how the tournament went and he felt it was best not to sit out a year. He wanted to reconsider the Fordham situation. He’s excited and so is his family and Fordham University,” a source close to the family said.

Fontan and Rutgers guard Mike Rosario both played with Puerto Rico at the FIBA U19 World Championship in Auckland, New Zealand. Both played well and the Fontan family felt it was best for Jio to continue with that momentum.

Jorge Fontan, Jio’s father, previously said his son would never play for Fordham again.

The family had tried repeatedly to secure a release from Jio’s scholarship, but were not granted one.

Fontan briefly considered remaining in Puerto Rico and training or spending a year at a junior college without playing.

Fontan led the Rams in scoring (15.3 points per game), assists (4.7) and steals (33) while adding 2.7 rebounds per game. He was named to the Atlantic-10 All-Rookie team. Fordham finished 3-25, 1-15 in the A-10.

Fordham is bringing in a strong recruiting class, including many players looking forward to playing with Fontan.

The recruiting class includes 6-10 Fahro Alihodzic and 6-4 Danny Thompson, both of the Canary Basketball Academy;  6-3 Lance Brown of Paterson (N.J.) Catholic; 6-7 Chris Gaston of New Hampton (N.H.);  6-8 Brian Freeman of Potomac (Va.) Potomac Falls; and 6-4 combo guard Brennen Melvin of Bishop Verot (Fla.).

“Finding a high-level point guard to lead your team is one of the most important things in recruiting,” La Salle coach Dr. John Giannini said. “Having Jio on your team gives you a much needed talent  at a critical position. With Jio and their ‘09 recruits and ‘10 commitments, they have some very talented young players and a lot of hope for the upcoming season.”

RUTGERS LANDS NICHOLAS

Rutgers landed its second commitment from the Class of 2011 Monday when Andrew Nicholas, a 6-6, 205-pound wing from Eastern York (Pa.), verbally committed to head coach Fred Hill.

“I committed to Rutgers,” Nicholas said by phone. “The first time I met Coach Hill and Coach [Jimmy] Carr, we had a bond right away. We connected. Coach Hill is straight up and honest with me and my parents.”

Mascei Grier, a point guard from Las Vegas who is the son of former Passaic (N.J.) High legend Marshall Grier, previously committed to Rutgers and is also in the Class of 2011.

Nicholas had several other Division 1 offers to choose from.

“I had offers from Virginia Tech, St. Joe’s, Penn State, Temple and Georgia Tech,” Nicholas said.

A left-handed shooter, Nicholas reportedly averaged 21.2 points last season and made 63 3-pointers en route to earning Pennsylvania Associated Press Third-team Class AAA All-State honors. He has 1,169 career points.

“He’s an excellent shooter,” said Tony Sagona, Nicholas’ AAU coach with the Jersey Shore Warriors. “He’s got great range. He gets it off very quickly and he’s lefty. That gives him an edge.” ‘

Nicholas said he wanted to get the recruiting process over with early so coaches would stop calling him.

“It was really stressful with all the college coaches calling me all the time and I knew I wanted to go to Rutgers so I figured why not get it over with?” Nicholas said.

“It seems like the perfect fit for me.”

RUTGERS TO PLAY ARMY IN FOOTBALL AT YANKEE STADIUM

The STar-Ledger reports that Rutgers and Army will play football at Yankee Stadium in 2011.

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Here are some quick notes.

***UPDATE***

**Chris Coleman, a 6-9 junior center from Durham (NC) Mt. Zion (pictured), has committed to Florida International and head coach Isiah Thomas, despite my previous post to the contrary.

“I liked that [Thomas] played in the NBA, coached in the NBA and he’s got a lot of experience and stuff,” Coleman told the NBE Basketball Report. “That is where I am trying to get, so that is why I committed.”

Coleman reportedly picked FIU over UConn, West Virginia, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, Texas, N.C. State and Wake Forest.

Coleman’s AAU coach, Don Marsh, previously told me had not committed.

**Paterson (N.J.) Catholic guard Jayon James is reclassifying to the Class of 2011 and is  transferring to prep school, although it is unclear which one.

“He’s definitely transferring,” said John James, Jayon’s dad. “We’re trying to get his body right and trying to get him prepared for college.”

The 6-foot-5 James is being recruited by various Ivy League schools, including Harvard, Brown and Princeton.

“It’s still wide open, though,” John James said.

**Speaking of Paterson Catholic, 6-7 rising sophomore point guard Kyle Anderson is hearing from Pitt, Georgetown, Rutgers, St. John’s, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, La Salle, Texas, Kansas, Baylor, Miami and Kentucky. Georgetown is the only school Anderson has visited unofficially. Stay tuned for more on him later.

“His basketball IQ is so high that he can really play any position on the court,” Kyle Anderson Sr. said.

**Still more Paterson Catholic. Rising junior point Myles Mack, who’s on Anderson’s team here, says DePaul, Virginia Tech, St. John’s, Virginia and VCU have entered the picture, joining schools like Georgetown, Fordham, La Salle and Drexel.

How good can PC be next year? “We’re trying to win the TOCs this year,” Mack said.

**Also stay tuned for an SNY.tv story Friday on J.J. Moore, a 6-5, 190-pound wing from Brentwood, N.Y. Moore plans to transfer from Brentwood High (which produced Seton Hall big man John Garcia) to South Kent (Conn.), where he will play alongside New York products Mike Buffalo (Wings) and Russ Smith (Archbishop Molloy). Joel “Air Jamaica” Wright (Thomas Jefferson) may also end up at South Kent, although he said he’s also considering Hargrave (Va.) Military and Winchendon (Mass.).

It seemed like every Big East coach I spoke to was there scouting Moore, who dropped a game-high 18 in a win over Joe Jackson and Allen Iverson. Moore said he plans to visit Providence, Rutgers, Louisville and Marquette and also said Syracuse has always been a favorite.

**DePaul assistant Billy Garrett is quickly making inroads in the Northeast. Moore, Mack and Anderson all mentioned him.

**Seton Hall Prep guard Sterling Gibbs is fresh off winning the gold medal with the U.S. U16 National Team in Argentina.

“It was great,” he said. “I got to visit another country and got to play with another team. I think it’s the best team I ever played with.”

Gibbs, a rising junior whose older brother Ashton Gibbs is a rising sophomore at Pittsburgh, previously told me Villanova was his favorite school.

Still, he said he plans to visit Oklahoma, Pitt, Villanova, Indiana and DePaul this summer.

“I’m wide open with my recruitment,” he said. “I hope to take some visits in August and see where it goes from there.”

**Kelvin Jefferson, who coached Omari Lawrence (St. John’s) and Kevin Parrom (Arizona) at South Kent, had thoughts on both.

“With Omari, he’s a tough, rugged kind of player. His year at South Kent he’s developed his body physically. He’s bigger, he’s stronger and he’s going to be able to take the pounding of the Big East schedule. He’s a physical slasher, but now he’s going to be able to take the pounding and finish around the rim and it’s not going to effect him so much.

“With Kevin and the Pac-10, he’s long, he can run, he can jump, he’s athletic. The nice thing about him is his diversity. He can do a lot of different things. He can handle the ball like a point forward. He can get to the rim. He’ll rebound for you. He’ll make 3’s. He does a lot of good things that will enable guys to want him to play at a lot of different positions and give him a chance to stay on the court a long time.”

**Pe’Shon Howard, a 6-3, 195-pound wing from Oak Hill (Va.) Academy, listed Harvard, Arkansas, Rutgers, Virginia Tech, Stanford and USC.

“I’ve got a lot of offers from a lot of schools,” Howard said.

He said Rutgers assistant Craig Carter has been recruiting him for the Knights.

“He’s a cool guy,” Howard said.

**Sidiki Johnson, a 6-8 junior from St. Raymond’s in the Bronx, listed Arizona, Kentucky, Providence, St. John’s, Marquette, West Virginia, Rutgers, Virginia Tech and Seton Hall.

He said he’s visited Arizona and Kentucky unofficially.

“[Arizona] was great, nice campus,” he said. ” I went to Kentucky a month ago. It was fun, lots of talented players. It was nice out there.”

“As of right now he loves [Arizona],” Bernard Bowen, Johnson’s mentor, told me recently. “He loves the coaching staff. As of right now, Arizona is the top on his list.”

Johnson averaged 11 points and 10 rebounds last season at St. Ray’s, which reached the title game of the SNY Invitational before falling to Sherrod Wright and Mount Vernon.

“I just create a mismatch wherever I’m at,” he said. “I play inside/outside, but I’ll probably be a three in college.

Johnson has modest goals for this year.

“Be Mr. Basketball in the State [of New York],” he said. “That’s my goal.”

**Head coaches on hand so far: La Salle’s Dr. John Giannini; UConn’s Jim Calhoun; St. John’s Norm Roberts; Providence’s Keno Davis; Kentucky’s John Calipari; Memphis’ Josh Pastner; Oklahoma State’s Travis Ford; Indiana’s Tom Crean; Villanova’s Jay Wright; Marquette’s Buzz Williams; Virginia Tech’s Seth Greenburg; St. Joe’s Phil Martelli; FDU’s Greg Vetrone; Alabama’s Anthony Grant; BC’s Al Skinner and Temple’s Fran Dunphy.

GARLAND TO VIRGINIA TECH

Tyrone Garland, a 6-1, 165-pound point guard from Philadelphia (PA) John Bartram, announced his college choice at the Reebok Camp in a room full of family, coaches and friends.

“The school that I will be attending is Virginia Tech,” Garland said.

“The [other] schools I was considering were La Salle, Temple, Nevada and Nebraska but what sold me was a great coaching staff. It’s kind of quiet up there so you can focus on basketball. [It has a] good campus and new practice facility, too.”

Bartram coach James Brown said Garland was a “special” person.

“I say from day one that young man is special,” Brown said. “Not only do you have a great basketball player but you have a great individual sitting right there.

“You don’t get the total package that often. He’s the total package person, personality, character. Teachers around the school say the same thing about him.

“He’s special, they love him.”

His decision behind him, Garland said he can now focus on school and basketball.

“Now  I can just focus on ball and working out and focus on the rest of the AAU season and my grades,” he said.

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Howard Thompkins (14 points, 9 rebounds) and Gordon Hayward (11 points, 7 rebounds) led the way for the USA, and Duke guard Seth Curry (pictured) scored 9 points. Pitt guard Ashton Gibbs and Kansas guard Tyshawn Taylor, both New Jersey natives, added 8 points apiece.

Fordham guard Jio Fontan led Puerto Rico with 16 points on 6-of-15 shooting and dished 4 dimes.

Rosario went 4-of-15 from the field, but struggled mightily with the tough U.S. perimeter defence.

“Puerto Rico’s a good team and we really wanted to step up to the challenge of guarding (Rosario),” Hayward said. “He is a great player and scored 54 the night before so we really didn’t want to let that happen again.”

With a 5-0 record, the USA is already into the quarterfinals, and cannot lose top position in Group E regardless of their clash with Lithuania Wednesday at the North Shore Events Centre.

Puerto Rico has three wins, and can move through to the quarters with a win over Egypt tomorrow morning at ASB Stadium.

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(Courtesy FIBA)

Rutgers guard Mike Rosario had a game-high 28 points on 9-of-19 shooting but Puerto Rico lost to Greece 107-98 on Friday.

Fordham guard Jio Fontan added 15 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds.

In Puerto Rico’s first game Thursday, Rosario notched 17 points on 6-of-18 shooting, 5 rebounds and 2 assists in an 80-73 win over Lithuania.

Fontan added 12 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists.

Team USA improved to 2-0 Friday with a 71-55 victory over France in which Seth Curry of Duke had 12 points, Gordan Hayward of Butler had 11 and Ashton Gibbs of Pitt scored 10.

Kansas’ Tyshawn Taylor , the former St. Anthony of Jersey City star who could go to the NBA after this season, tallied 7 points and 5 assists.

**Rutgers football will play a home-and-home with UCLA beginning at Rutgers Stadium in 2016.

“We are excited for our football program and especially for our fans to be playing UCLA,” Rutgers AD Tim Pernetti said. “This series will have tremendous national appeal anchored in the two largest media markets in the country.”

And don’t be surprised if they sleep with a basketball once they get there.

You see, the duo — who are playing for Puerto Rico in the event — slept with a FIBA basketball during training in Puerto Rico in order to get used to the smaller, lighter international ball.

“We both started to sleep with them at night,” Fontan, who played last year at Fordham, said by phone from Puerto Rico. “We slept with it for a week and we didn’t even use it. And then we used a different ball.”

That’s right.

After training and sleeping with the FIBA ball, they played with a larger, heavier adidas ball at the World Juniors Tournament in France.

Rosario, a 6-foot-3 freshman guard from Jersey City, didn’t have any trouble with the new ball.

He dropped 33 points on an American team in the first game and was named to the All-Tournament team after averaging 20.4 points and 5.0 rebounds while shooting 29-of-37 from the free throw line.

“The first game, Mike was on fire. He pretty much made all his shots. You can tell Mike went to an adidas school because he was knocking shots down,” said Fontan, who played with Rosario at St. Anthony under Bob Hurley. “He was comfortable with that ball right away.”

Todd Washington, an adviser to the Puerto Rican National team, said Rosario actually struggled with the FIBA ball early during training in Puerto Rico.

“Mike’s first couple of practices were a nightmare,” Washington said. “He literally didn’t make a shot. For three days straight the kid couldn’t make a shot. He was shooting 3’s from the corner and hitting the side of the basket. It didn’t have anything to do with his confidence, it was the FIBA basketball.